UO students and faculty have received a rare invite to enter into the “Green Room.”

Before the acclaimed movie “Green Room” premieres nationally April 29, the UO Cinema Studies Program is hosting a free advance screening 6:30 p.m. April 7 in Room 177 Lawrence Hall. After the screening, producer Neil Kopp and director Jeremy Saulnier will have a question-and-answer session about the film.

“Green Room” is about members of a punk rock band who witness a murder at a music venue and have to fight to survive against a group of white supremacists who committed the murder. The film was shot in Portland and it had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received acclaim from critics.

UO Cinemas Studies Program Director Mike Aronson said getting Kopp and Saulnier to show their film at the university was crucial because it shows students that the film industry in Oregon is active and flourishing.

“We kind of made a dream list of people that we wanted to come to the university that we thought could make an impact on our students,” Aronson said. “Neil (Kopp) was one of the first people that came up because he’s worked with so many great directors and films, and we thought it’d interesting for our students to hear more about producing.”

Kopp’s an award-winning producer that was born and raised in Portland, and some of the films he’s produced in the last few years have been made in Portland.

The film’s advance screening at the UO was funded by the cinema studies first major endowment, The Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Professor and Filmmaker Fund. The endowment will also allow Kopp to mentor cinema studies students in the Art of Producing course during the spring term.

The screening is only available to UO students and faculty with ID.

—By Craig Garcia, University Communications intern